Written by: Mike Dimitriou
Brooklyn’s Timothy Dark who released his new record Dark Day Afternoon a few months ago, has our track of the day today.
Mr. Dark is a Harlem-sired New Yorker currently living in Brooklyn who plays politically charged hip-hop. Dark is a singer, rapper and a songwriter whose music style is diverse and unique. A musician who is keen on the arts (as you may see on his Facebook profile), Dark has learned how to survive amidst the violence and corruption of being raised in New York. Notably, he shook James Brown’s hand on stage when his mom boldly placed him up there when she took the young Timothy to see Brown play live.
As a young member of rap crews he found himself opening for Nas and Black Rob, and later he immersed himself in New York City’s thriving Antifolk scene, collaborating with Nellie Mckay and Nicole Atkins. As a musical activist who encourages artists to get off the drugs and the streets, Dark is a very serious songwriter who doesn’t sell goodies of gangsta-rap to the mainstream; he’s inventive, he’s electric and he’s unpredictable.
And he doesn’t just rap.
“Most people don’t know I have written pop songs for years. I just never released many of them because I loved rapping so much. But now that I have a band…” he says.
Something pushes me to compare him with Joe Strummer when in the times of 101ers the band was not only politically involved, but in their free time (and later on as The Clash) they used to visit art galleries and go to coffee shops. Timothy Dark summons that same attitude–he supports art of all kinds and is patron as well as a fan.
And he’s a true artist himself.
Check out “She Put A Spell On Me” featuring lady Angie Atkinson on vocals. It brings to mind the soul and funk of James Brown and the libidinous guitars grooves summons Prince.
Keep Up With Timothy Dark
